


Run Away With Me

by freudensteins_monster



Series: Dec Prompt Meme Collection [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Loki Does What He Wants, Sigyn refuses to give in, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 15:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9130738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freudensteins_monster/pseuds/freudensteins_monster
Summary: Loki wants Sigyn, Sigyn wants Loki, but she refuses him at every turn, unwilling to become another notch on his bedpost.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladyaudiophile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyaudiophile/gifts).



> Inspired by a prompt meme from my tumblr. Both ladyaudiophile and thecrownedrose asked for Temperance: ‘There’s strength in denial and I need to be strong’.  
> I didn't use the quote but the story was inspired by the theme of restraint and denying yourself the things you want. And it kind of got away from me...

Prince or not, Loki was the sort of boy mother’s warned their daughters about. Thor would have been as well, but mothers were generally too distracted by the crown to worry too much about his rambunctious behaviour and wandering hands.

With his shadowy nature and silver tongue the second prince had charmed many a lady of court into his bed, toying with her reputation like a cat with a ball of yarn, and Sigyn was determined not to add to their number. Unfortunately her mother kept trying to throw Sigyn in Prince Thor’s path which only served to make Loki more determined to bed her, and Sigyn all the more determined to refuse him.

She felt his presence before he made himself known, sidling up beside her like a snake as she was walking through the palace.

“My, my… Lady Sigyn, you seem to be without an escort. Perhaps I can offer my services,” he teased, his breath warm against her ear.

“Please do not trouble yourself, your majesty. I am simply going to meet my mother for tea. Though I would be remiss if I did not invite you to join us.”

Loki stiffened slightly at the mention Lady Sigrid but then ploughed ahead unheeded.

“That sounds frightfully dull. I can think of no less than a thousand more interesting things we could be doing,” his grin suggesting that most of his ideas were clothing optional.

“Such as,” Sigyn replied, immediately cursing herself for playing along.

“Run away with me and you shall find out, my lady,” Loki purred, moving to block her way. “We could take tea in the forests of Vanaheim, make love under the silver moons of Alfheim, break our fast as the triple sun rises over the peaks of Muspelheim… I could show you such things, my lady,” he purred, his arms winding their way around her waist. “Run away with me,” he asked again, his lips hovering over her as he moved to press her against the nearest wall.

Sigyn trembled in his arms. She wanted it, all that he offered her, as much as she wanted him. He was beautiful, clever, and talented, with a disdain for stuffy court protocols that Sigyn appreciated even if she could never bring herself to emulate it. And yet…

“No.”

“What?” Loki startled, reeling backwards with the assistance of Sigyn’s hands pressing against his chest.

“No,” Sigyn repeated, sure that Loki was unfamiliar with the word. “No, I will not run away with you. Not now, and I fear not ever.”

“And why is that?” Loki demanded, his green eyes flashing with anger. “Does the fair Lady Sigyn have loftier ambitions?”

Sigyn expressed her disgust with a most unladylike snort. “Prince Thor regards women as he might swords in an armoury, and you…” Sigyn sighed despairingly. “You treat my affections as if they were a game to be won.”

“Because you, my dear,” he purred, his gaze traversing the length of her form. “Are a most exquisite prize.”

“Hardly,” Sigyn snapped before storming off, leaving a confused prince in her wake.

** *** **

“Run away with me,” Loki asked again, having found her alone in corner of the great hall the following week.

“No,” Sigyn sighed wearily, stepping away from him as the thought of his lips brushing across her neck almost destroyed her resolve.

“And why not?” he pestered. “I have watched you all night and you have eyes for no other,” he added, gesturing at the feasting crowd before them. “Or perhaps the object of your prized affections is not here tonight?”

“He is,” Sigyn replied, glancing at Loki pointedly. “But he doesn’t care for me as I do him.”

“You care for him?” Loki stammered, as though he was unfamiliar with the concept.

“I do,” Sigyn admitted quietly.

“And you think he doesn’t care for you?”

“I’m sure he cares for me as much as he cared for the other women he’s bedded,” she replied, her words tinged with bitterness. “And so I remain resolute in my refusal.”

“And if he does not come to care for you the way you do him?” Loki pondered aloud.

“Then I fear neither of us shall ever get what we want. Goodnight, your majesty,” Sigyn excused herself from the feast leaving Loki alone to contemplate her words.

** *** **

The next time Loki appeared beside Sigyn she was standing at the edge of the palace gardens, watching morosely as the queens favourite roses were pelted by an unseasonable thunderstorm.

“Run away with me,” Loki teased by way of a greeting, conjuring a single red rose and offering it to Sigyn.

“No, Loki,” Sigyn laughed but took the rose regardless, absently pressing the pad of her thumbs against the thorns, a reminder of the pain to come should she be swayed by Loki’s charms. “I take it you bested Thor on the training grounds this morning,” she added, glancing up at the darkening skies.

“Aye,” Loki cackled. “Disguised as a novice soldier who seemingly got in a lucky hit. I fear the rain will not let up for a month, so if you’re looking for sunnier climes I hear that the beaches of Xandar are particularly fine this time of year.” He paused them, regarding her curiously. “Run away with me, my lady,” he repeated, almost begging.

Sigyn refused again.

“What can I do to prove to you that I care for you?” Loki asked, his frustration showing. “Name it and it shall be done.”

“You don’t have to _do_ anything,” Sigyn said with a sad shake of her head. “If you cared for me truly I would know, and you do not. You still pursue me as though you were a hunter and I but a deer in your sights. You live for the chase, your majesty, but once it’s over, then what? You will consume me until there is nothing left, I fear.”

“You think me so monstrous?” Loki enquired, his hurt obvious.

“I think you oblivious to the havoc you wreck, the hearts you break, and the reputations you ruin. My love for you is not so blinding that I would willingly join their ranks.” Before Loki had a chance to balk at her cavalier use of the word ‘love’ Sigyn continued. “You wish me to think your feelings for me are more sincere? Tell me one thing that you like about me – that does not pertain to my beauty,” she added sharply. When Loki failed to answer her Sigyn smiled sadly and handed back the rose. “Good day, your majesty.”

Loki turned the rose in his hands, noting that some of the thorns were now stained red. He kept it in a stasis jar upon his desk and stared at it as he contemplated his fixation on Lady Sigyn.

** *** **

He studied her for several days afterwards, watching unseen from the shadows as she went about her routines, and was pleasantly surprised. He’d known she was clever enough to hold his attention but he hadn’t realised she was so well read, often spending her mornings in the company of a book. She was pragmatic and politically minded, doing her best to speak her mind whilst maintaining the image of a respectful daughter and member of court.

Sigyn wasn’t wanting for suitors, Loki was loathed to discover, with no less than three oafs requesting her hand in the week that he spied on her. Sigyn was right when she said he didn’t truly care for her, Loki realised as he watched her dismiss each of her odious suitors. He was no better than these men who saw nothing but her beauty and her family’s status and wealth. One idiot couldn’t even get her name right, another talked about Sigyn to his friends as naught but a mare to be mounted and bear him sons. That particular suitor found himself on the wrong end of Thor’s hammer the next time he was on the training grounds. The crown prince could have sworn he looked just like the soldier that bested him earlier that week. How curious.

Loki continued to follow Sigyn and was delighted by every new thing he learned. She had some skill with seiðr he discovered, and though she trained in the healing arts (in Lady Sigrid’s opinion it was the only acceptable form employment for a woman of her station, until such time as she was married) she had an affinity magically refined mechanisms. He watched as she presented her latest work to her neighbour’s daughter – a dancing figurine that never needed winding – and was shocked to find himself imagining Sigyn gifting their children with her intricate toys.

** *** **

Before Loki had a chance to act on his newly discovered feelings his attendance was required in Odin’s war room. The next time he saw Sigyn he was riding out at the front of a small squadron of Asgard’s army.

“Lady Sigyn,” Loki greeted, pulling his black steed to the side.

“Your majesty,” Sigyn replied with a small curtsey. “Are the Nine Realms in danger?”

“Nothing to worry about, my lady,” he assured her. “A band of raiders is causing some grief on the outskirts of the Vanaheim capital.”

“It sounds frightfully dull,” she smirked, echoing a previous conversation. Loki couldn’t help but smile back.

“It does, doesn’t it? Would you run away with me instead?” he teased. “We could go traipsing across the primitive wilds of Midgard and have ourselves a proper adventure. If not,” he added soberly, as Sigyn laughed off his flirtation. “Would you perhaps deign to bestow me with a favour?” he asked nervously, all too aware of the crowds of people who would bear witness to his humiliation should she refuse him.

“A favour?” Sigyn blinked.

“Aye,” Loki murmured nervously. “An antiquated tradition perhaps, but I would be honoured to carry a token of yours into battle, a reminder of what I need to return to… if you would be amenable to such a thing.”

Sigyn blushed then, a more beautiful sight Loki couldn’t imagine, reaching into the folds of her dress to retrieve a square of green silk.

“That’s my colour, my lady. And my symbol,” Loki remarked, noting the intricate gold serpents embroidered around the border.

“Is it?” Sigyn replied, feigning ignorance as she tied the article around his wrist. “How strange.”

“Strange indeed,” Loki smirked, taking Sigyn’s hand before she could step away and pressing a kiss upon her knuckles. “I shall return to your side as soon as I can, my lady.”

“I shall count the minutes, your majesty,” Sigyn teased.

She blushed again when she realised just how many people had witnessed their sickly sweet exchange, but waited until Loki was out of sight before returning home to tell her mother what transpired. It wouldn’t do for her to hear it from someone else.

 ** *** **

Sigyn was called down to the sitting room one thousand, one hundred, and fifty four minutes later to find her mother making awkward small talk with Prince Loki.

“Your majesty? I hadn’t expected you to return so soon.”

“It was barely a skirmish, my lady. It was over before it began. We returned at sun up but it was suggested that I bathe and wait until a more respectable hour before calling on you,” he smiled, fidgeting nervously under Lady Sigrid’s expectant stare. “Might I have a moment alone with Sigyn, Lady Sigrid?”

“Of course, of course,” Lady Sigrid flapped, backing out of the room. “I’ll just be in the kitchen checking on the cook if you have need of me.”

Sigyn watched her mother go, waiting for the doors to close before speaking.

“I am glad to see you well. You sustained no injuries I hope,” she said, her eyes wandering over his form with concern.

“Barely a scratch,” he assured her, retrieving the recently cleaned silk square from his person. “I can’t help but think that this was my good luck charm. You didn’t bewitch it, did you?” he teased.

“With nothing more potent than my prayers for your safe return, your majesty,” Sigyn blushed, twisting the silk around her fingers.

“I brought you a gift,” Loki remembered suddenly, directing Sigyn’s attention to a large wooden case upon the table. He removed the case with a flourish, watching in delight as Sigyn’s eyes lit up. “It’s a mechanical model of the nine realms,” he explained, pressing a button which caused the nine arms, each with a glowing solar system affixed to it, to rotate around a silver World’s Tree.

“Oh Loki, it’s beautiful!” Sigyn gasped, inspecting it from every angle.

“Think of it as a promise… of all the places we will visit… once we are married.”

Sigyn straightened, blinking owlishly. “Married? You mean you wish to…”

“Yes. Would you, if I…”

“Yes.”

Loki laughed, shaking off his nerves. “Then perhaps I should this properly.” He turned to face her and took her hands in his. “Lady Sigyn, would you do me the great honour of becoming my wife?” he asked, his lips hovering over hers, awaiting her answer.

“Yes,” Sigyn replied, her voice barely a whisper.

Unfortunately her mother had excellent hearing. “YES!!! Arild! You’re daughter’s finally getting married! To a prince, no less!!”

Sigyn cringed as the exciting shouting continued all the way to the library. “Welcome to the family?” she shrugged laughingly. Loki laughed and pulled Sigyn close, kissing her before they were inevitably interrupted.

** *** **

Loki and Sigyn sat at the head of a long table, one of five crammed into the Great Hall for their wedding feast. They had had a short engagement of only a few years followed by an ostentatious service neither of them had wanted. To make matters worse they were stuck in the crowded hall listening to Thor drone on and on about the month long festivities to be held in their honour when all they wanted to do was eat something before retiring to their marriage bed.

“Is he ever going to stop talking?” Sigyn asked her husband under her breath.

“I fear not,” Loki sighed as the list of celebratory activities just grew and grew and grew. “It all sounds frightfully dull, does it not, wife of mine?” Loki smirked.

“That is does, husband dear,” Sigyn replied, mirroring the mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Run away with me, my love?” Loki asked, kissing her hand.

“Absolutely,” Sigyn beamed.

Loki held his wife close, and gave his mother what can only be described as an apologetic wink, before the pair disappeared in a flash of golden light.

The newlyweds were not seen in Asgard again until the summer solstice following their tenth wedding anniversary, but tales that filtered in from across the Nine assured all who listened to them that Loki and Sigyn were having a wonderful time.


End file.
